(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
Route Description
Alaska Highway 8 is 135 miles (218 km)
long and runs from Paxson to Cantwell.
Opened in 1957, it was the first road access to Denali National Park (then
known as Mount McKinley National Park). Since 1971, primary park access has been
via the Parks Highway, which incorporated a section of the Denali Highway from
Cantwell to the present-day park entrance.
The highway is now little used and poorly maintained, and closed to all
traffic from October to mid-May each year. Only the easternmost 21.3 miles and
westernmost 2.6 miles are paved; whether the remainder should be paved as well
is a continual source of debate.
Travelling west, the Denali Highway leaves the Richardson Highway (Alaska
Route 4) at Paxson, and climbs steeply up into the foothills of the central
Alaska Range. The first 21 miles, to Tangle Lakes, are paved. Along its length,
the highway passes through three of the principle river drainages in Interior
Alaska: the Copper River drainage, the Tanana/Yukon drainage and the Susitna
drainage. Along the way, in good weather, there are stunning views of the peaks
and glaciers of the central Alaska Range, including Mt. Hayes (13,700 feet), Mt.
Hess (11,940 feet ) and Mt. Deborah (12,688). At MP 15, from the pullout on the
south side of the road, in clear weather you can see the Wrangell Mountains, the
Chugach Mountains and the Alaska Range.
The first 45 miles winds through the Amphitheater Mountains, cresting at
MacLaren Summit, at 4,086 feet the second highest road in Alaska. The road then
drops down to the MacLaren River Valley with fine views north to MacLaren
Glacier. After crossing the MacLaren River, the road winds through the
geologically mysterious Crazy Notch and then along the toe of the Denali
Clearwater Mountains to the Susitna River. After crossing the Susitna River the
road extends across the glaciers-outwash plains to the Nenana River, and then
down the Nenana River to Cantwell on the Parks Highway (Alaska #3).
The rough gravel surface makes driving slow, but the scenery is truly
extradordinary, in some ways nicer than the extension of the Denali Highway into
Denali National Park. There are developed campgrounds at Tangles Lakes (MP 22)
and Brushkana Creek (MP 104), but there are dozens of pullouts where you can
camp on public lands.
Services are scant along this road. Tangle River Inn (MP 20), MacLaren Lodge
(MP 42) and Gracious House (MP 82) offer minor repairs and tire repairs and
usually have fuel. Both offer rental cabins, as does Denali Highway Cabins (MP
0).
The Denali Highway is an important birding destination. It offers road access
to alpine terrain - not that common in Alaska - and, in the brief birding season
there, good viewing of a number of alpine breeders, including Long-tailed
Jaeger, Whimbrel, Surfbird, Lapland Longspur, Horned Lark, Short-eared Owl,
Wandering Tattler, Gyrfalcon and much more. A walk north along BLM's MacLaren
Summit Trail (MP 39) can be very productive.
Fishing for grayling and lake trout is decent, if not spectacular, in any of
the clear water (i.e., unglaciated) streams.
Because the area is hunted heavily, larger mammals are much less common than
in Denali National Park, but moose, grizzly bear, and caribou are fairly common.
Most of the land along the highway is publicly owned. There are several BLM-maintained
trails, and dozens of informal trails. This is a stretch of wild Alaska that is
pretty much unspoiled, relatively accessible and beautiful.
